British Industry Groups Criticize Government Goal of Increasing College Participation

A leading British business industry organization has called for an “urgent review” of the government’s target of increasing university participation rates to 50 percent of the young population, the Financial Times reported. The group, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, also released survey results showing that 59 percent of recent graduates who have a job are not working in a field related to their degrees. The higher number of competing graduates, it says, is reducing the likelihood that they will be able to find suitable jobs. Another industry organization, the Association of Graduate Recruiters, has also criticized the target, calling it an artificial goal that “has driven down standards and devalued the currency of a degree.”

Participation rates in higher education have stalled at 43 percent and the government now couches its ambitions as an aspiration rather than an explicit target. Sweeping budget cuts are expected to result in tens of thousands of qualified applicants’ being unable to attend a university, despite last week’s pledge of $403-million to help pay for 20,000 additional student places.